[Big Red Machine]

The new rack layout:

[lonewolfny42]

Hey Dude.....






Good luck with the new amps Pete...

[Big Red Machine]

Well Chris, speaking of the amps.....

[Kinger]

Nobody is ever going to say you don't like a little color in your life Big Red.  Looks awesome and I'm sure it sounds even better.

[Nuance]

Booya - now that's what I am talking about!  I can't wait to get your impressions, Pete!

[Big Red Machine]

Yeah, red speakers and blue amps!  Well, I went with blue since my room has blue and I was thinking blue or silver speakers to match the room and tone it down.  But for now with the red speakers I have a red pad on the Ikea chair to balance it out.

How about some room treatment shots...

[Kinger]

I like it!  No doubt, you have some serious room treatments going on.  Must sound fantastic........  What are your room dimensions again?

[Big Red Machine]

I like it!  No doubt, you have some serious room treatments going on.  Must sound fantastic........  What are your room dimensions again?

The diffusers really made the most impact for me.  I was thinking such a small room at 13.5 wide by 20 at its deepest alcove needed more "reverberation."

I put my monitor overhead so at least my neck was more comfortable leaning back against the chair while I use Squeezecenter or surf:

[jtwrace]

Sweet!

What do you think of the pre & amp combo initially?

[Big Red Machine]

Sweet!

What do you think of the pre & amp combo initially?

As Paul Weitzel cautioned me, the amps only have maybe 40 hours on them and are mid-rangey right now which pumps up the mid-bass and squelches the airiness.  They are fast and dynamic and I believe I have a hint of their authoritative manor already.  The preamp still only has some lackluster tubes in it and Paul said he may have some tubes for me to put in for replacements in 2 weeks after an upcoming HAM radio show.

I'm letting them run 24/7 so within a week much should improve.  The TRL gear does not get hot at all - cool running stuff.

I was anticipating some pretty good results so that is why I lined up digital cables and a bunch of speaker cables to slide in for good chemistry once I get some hours.

[Kinger]

Who makes those diffusers?  Have you ever measured your room with REW or something similar?  Just curious how it looks.........

[Big Red Machine]

Who makes those diffusers?  Have you ever measured your room with REW or something similar?  Just curious how it looks.........

Just got back from Transformers 3. 

I never did do official sweeps with the RS meter.  I loaned out my test disc so cannot do it now.  I'm sure it has the expected modes but the bass is well trapped and the diffusion has made the sound more 3 dimensional.

The room has 6 different diffusor brands:

Gik D1's sides, back, door
Gik Gridfusors directly behind seat
Real Traps Near diffusors behinds the speakers
RPG diffusors ceiling
Auralex T'fusors ceiling
DIY prime 53's side walls

Plenty of 703 in the room in the corners, on the ceiling, in the moveable boxes under the side wall diffusors and back corners.  The side wall diffusors and ceiling diffusors made the most impact in my opinion.

[Nuance]

Just got back from Transformers 3. 

Me too.  It was just what I expected, and because of that I wasn't disappointed.  Of course, the new blond actress was terrible along with the entire romantic portion, but I expected that too.

I definitely need to put diffusion in my room.  Would you recommend the ceiling as being the best place?  I don't want it everywhere, which is why I ask. 

[Big Red Machine]

Those big 53's made the biggest impact over the ceiling.  But the lightweight GIK stuff is easy to mount overhead and that would be a great start.  I thought about a super large graphic to cover all the ceiling treatments to make a more subtle statement, but my room is all about serious so I don't need to be too subtle.

Since my head is close to a wall behind, I'll bet those diffusors do more than I credit them for off my left ear.

[Nuance]

Good to know - thanks.  I was actually looking at Gik's diffusion ceiling tiles; I think that's the route I'll go after hearing how much diffusion helped in your room.  Thank you.

I hope you'll keep us posted regarding the big blue dogs once they've broken in.

[Big Red Machine]

How about power conditioning?

I modified a plain old BP2 with copper shielding, ERS paper, ferrites, spiked feet, and a new fancy faceplate.  I also wired one half of one outlet direct to the wall bypassing all conditioning so comparisons could be made or just in case someone needed that feature perhaps to daisy chain in another conditioner that would not work well coming out of a transformer.

Stock guts:





New faceplate from Chris added:



Paralleling half an outlet:



I'm a tool, er, the big gun...



I made a cute label:



Added some spiked feet:



Stock Tx wiring, see the copper wrap:



Ferrites added:



ERS cloth added to Tx and outlets:

[motorcitym3]

Hey Pete,
I just wanted to thank you for taking time to let my friend and I audition your new setup.

I gotta say it was a true treat for us to experience the most refined sounding dynamic system we ever heard.  I was blown away by the spot-on accurate imaging.  The sound stage depth was incredible, when he slapped the body of the guitar...enough said!  You have a very musical system and the female vocals were the most realistic sounding I've ever heard!!!

Thanks again Pete, it was an eye opening audition.  Now I know I have a lot work ahead of me, infact my buddy said he was "MAD AT WHAT HE HEARD" when he went home and listened his system LOL!

[Big Red Machine]

Well, it was good to have you and John, Ken.   And Ivy says "woof".  The system is getting there.  I was hoping the HT demo would put John over the top and want some kind of Salk speaker!!

Let me know how that dac works out, if it does.

Hey Pete,
I just wanted to thank you for taking time to let my friend and I audition your new setup.

I gotta say it was a true treat for us to experience the most refined sounding dynamic system we ever heard.  I was blown away by the spot-on accurate imaging.  The sound stage depth was incredible, when he slapped the body of the guitar...enough said!  You have a very musical system and the female vocals were the most realistic sounding I've ever heard!!!

Thanks again Pete, it was an eye opening audition.  Now I know I have a lot work ahead of me, infact my buddy said he was "MAD AT WHAT HE HEARD" when he went home and listened his system LOL!

[ratso]

i want the details on the most important part of your system - who is that sketch of in that pix frame?  nice work on that power conditioner, btw - it's a monster!

[Big Red Machine]

I wanted to make the list of amps I have owned somewhere and thought this thread was as good as any to have it documented.  Since 2006 I have owned, in no particular order:

Monarchy SM70 monos
PS Audio GCC500 modified by Underwood
Moscode 401HR
Wyred SX1000 monos
Wyred SX500 monos
Wyred ST250
Dodd 120 monos
BAT VK500
Pass Labs X350.5
Sunfire 600
Rowland 201 monos
Belles 150A Refs as monos
TAD Hibachi monos
Dared VP-20 monos
Cherry 4800A
Cherry Plus
ATI 602
PS Audio Delta 250 monos
Hafler 9130
Hafler SE240
Hafler XL280
Electrocompaniet AW220
Jolida JD202A
AVA something?
Xindak ? 200 wpc
Tube Research Labs Samson monos

In the HT I have not kept as close track and can recall:

Emotiva MPS
Emotiva XPA something
Parasound HCA1206
Wyred SX1000's, 500's, ST250
ATI 1506
ATI1505